Family Shoot in the Evening

 

 

 

“The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children.”

― Karl Lagerfeld

 

I love a good family shoot in the evening. Family shoots usually take about an hour or so, so I manage to get every shot I’m looking for. I’m lucky that I live in such a chill part of Canada. Everyone has no trouble posing for five or six different shot.

I’m lucky too because I believe they know the importance of these photos to me. I put my heart and soul into these images, I want them to be as perfect as is attainable. People are patent with me, and listen to what I have to say. I live a good life.

I need to mention too, Fiona has a blog!!! I really enjoyed her first entry. I find her quite witty, and I think you will too. Make sure you bookmark that sucker. It’s a great read. Plus, it’s the only way we can keep up with her adventures. She’s always all over the place doing everything. Now she’s gonna have to write about it. ;-D

A family photo session on KLO Road in Vernon, BC

Well, that’s about all I have to write. I did a bachelorette party yesterday. It was beyond fun. I got to ride in a helicopter for the first time, and they even let me ride in front! Got home by midnight, and had the photos up by 4am.

What coming up? Well, we’ve got a lot of weddings next month. I have most of June booked up, plus this semester of photography lessons is just started. I’m pretty darn excited. 😀 Fiona’s going to email the people at Okeefe Ranch, and we’ve got a free pass to take photos there!

See you again soon, internet!

Family Shoot in the Evening

An Okanagan Wedding in a Beautiful Old Park

First off, this is a highlight, If you’d like to see the proofed wedding photos, pop by my gallery right here. To see EVERY proofed photo, head to my pixiset. I’m going to keep these photos up for about a week. After that, you’ll need to contact the bride for any photos you’d like to download.

Setup went quite well. Many, many white chairs under a picturesque old oak tree. Some lanterns and flowers were being put on. Bridesmaids and groomsmen arrived as well as friends and family to help set up.

And all too soon, it happened. Bridesmaids, groomsmen, the whole procession. This is where I start to get pretty excited. Because I love weddings.

All done! A successful marriage! Time to get some photos of the new happy couple. I love outdoor weddings. In some churches, if a pin drops, you can hear it twenty feet away. Outdoors, I can concentrate on angles. I can stay back a little back, and use my zoom lens. I don’t like to be right in the middle of the action.

I think photographers should be hardly seen and hardly heard during the ceremony. Then, during the formals, the photographer should be all you see and hear!

One of the butterflies makes an appearance on the ring

Our new friend, the butterfly, decided he’d like to be in the photos. Every wedding is full of firsts, and this was one for me!

I also really like bridges. Polson Park has a ton of them.  If you ever visit Vernon, Polson Park is a must. Gorgeous views, and nearly unlimited places to take photos in!

Formal Photos in Polson Park, Vernon, BC

Formal Photos in Polson Park, Vernon, BC

Formal Photos in Polson Park, Vernon, BC

Formal Photos in Polson Park, Vernon, BC

Love this. There were so many kisses on the cheek. This is where my 85mm f/1.2 really shines. You shouldn’t shoot a whole wedding with it, I probably use it about 35% of the time. Is it ever amazing though. The way it captures highlights blows me away to this day.

Everyone has to sign the guestbook! Except for the dog. He made his presence known, though!

A few more formals and group shots…….

Few horses running around in Coldstream

Even the horses played along on this magical day.

A wonderful way to end the night is a couple shot!

I try to end every wedding with a photo of the couple together. I love it. At the start, there’s the rush, the insanity. At the end there’s drinks and great food with the dearest of friends.

I can’t wait for the next one! It’s coming soon!

If you’d like to book or inquire, take a look at my packages and shoot me a message!

An Okanagan Wedding in a Beautiful Old Park

A Polson Park Wedding in Vernon

Miranda and Brendon’s weddings in Vernon, BC. Reception was in Coldstream. We had amazing light in this early summer wedding.

A Polson Park Wedding in Vernon

A Coldstream, BC Wedding Preview

Well, I know a lot of you have been visiting this page looking for Miranda and Brendon’s wedding photos. They’re coming, I promise! And to be honest, they’re turning out even better than I could have hoped!

A butterfly that made an appearance for photos in our vernon polson park wedding!

There were a lot of spontaneous moments, a butterfly, and a bit of crying. I, for one, couldn’t have enjoying hanging around with such a neat group of people the whole day.

I’m expecting to be done the wedding on friday, so stay tuned for that update! The photos have already knocked my socks off, I hope you’ll love them too!

A kiss in the sunset in Coldstream, BC

A Coldstream, BC Wedding Preview

A Wild Birthday Photography Session

Yep, I do birthday sessions. Anything that gets me excited, I’ll do. It’s part of the reason I got into photography. It’s why I live in the Okanagan, as opposed to Toronto or Edmonton. Don’t get me wrong, I REALLY enjoy the destination weddings, but I LOVE living here even more. And onward we go.

Fun fact: So originally this was going to be a “Hey, look at these family photos I did” sort of entry. I was going to show you some photos that I took of a family on Sunday. That way, I’d get to photograph more families! Outdoor sessions are $150, and I highly recommend you get one now. Well, not right now. It’s 1:43 AM. At least wait till the kids are up.

But, I’ve got like four readers of this blog, according to my google analytics. I don’t really feel like bringing it down to two readers, so we’re gonna talk about something more interesting.

A few photos from a birthday shoot I did in May

This lovely lady is turning a certain age soon. For my birthday, I did a birthday selfie. I always buy myself some overpriced whisky and do a birthday selfie. This is a tradition that’s been going on for about ten years. Unfortunately, in the transition from photobuckets to livejournal to everything else, I don’t really have access to most of these photos. Enough of me.

A few photos from a birthday shoot I did in May

We have a mountain near where I live called turtle mountain. There’s another mountain near there, also called turtle mountain. There’s a really great place near there where I shoot weddings on the weekends called Turtle Mountain Vinyards.

And so I had this idea. I would photograph my client on one mountain, while she was on the other one. I’d use my handy-dandy 70-200mm f/2.8. I’d use two flashes. Unfortunately, the flash idea was not a good one. The remotes have a 30ft range, I was at least 200ft away.

Backup plan, though, We have the lights from the baseball field. Although this didn’t create the kind of look I had in my head, what came out of it I tend to think was still pretty cool.

A few photos from a birthday shoot I did in May

So yup, that’s my blog entry for today. You should book a birthday session with me. Thanks for reading everyone! I’ve got a wedding tomorrow, so this should hold you over until then.

 

A Wild Birthday Photography Session

Vernon One Day Photography Bootcamps

We’re finally doing this!

Although the feedback from our 8 week photography class has been overwhelmingly positive, I think It’s important to introduce a one day course. Not everyone has an hour a week in their busy lives to dedicate to learning in a class environment.

These classes are conveniently located in the heart of Vernon, BC, at Image Studios. Across from Bookland and Nature’s Fair.

These classes are 3 hours long and give you a running start to understanding your camera in a more dynamic, compelling way. Message me or email edraht@drahtphotography.com to sign up today!

Vernon One Day Photography Bootcamps

An Okanagan Engagement Photo Shoot

Well, it’s that time of year. My fifth engagement shoot of the year. Generally, I like too book about 25 weddings a year because that’s how I roll. Between you and I, anonymous people on the internet, I sometimes like the engagement shoots more!

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

 

That is, of course, a total lie. I love weddings and everything about them. I could shoot weddings every weekend. This is evidenced by the fact that in the summer I do shoot weddings every weekend.

This wedding is extra special though. My little cousin Dan is getting married! They’re such a neat couple too. The whole time they were exchanging loving glances and laughing at each other’s jokes.

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

On the way down, Julie said to me, “I’d really like this to be fun,light, and airy!”

“uh huh”, as I took out my three flashes. There will be SO much light. Literally every photo you’re looking at is a three light setup. Lighting is like makeup. If you can’t tell I used it, I did a good job.

They’ve both got such a strong presence too, it’s difficult to imagine the photo shoot going any way but spectacularly. The personalities really come through in the photos. A frame between the frames, so to speak. Location was bang on too.

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

Though dandelions are technically weeds, they sure do look good in photos. We went to gather some more.

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

I thought we’d get a cute photo of Dan and Julie blowing some Taraxacum in the air, but no. Julie had other plans….

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

Dan his this to look forward to for the rest of his life. You go, Dan!

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

Marmots were everywhere. They seemed pretty tame, and were pretty cute. Next time I’ll bring some cheerio’s for them. That’ll make for a pretty cute shot.

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

I get asked if I photoshopped this. I did not. This halo is straight from the lens, as evidenced by how it’s blown out all my colors. I like it, though, so we’ll keeep it. Never mind sunspots on my hot sensor. These two are in love!

The view out to the lake….

I didn’t notice this when I was taking the photo, but look at all that spring color! The hills are coming in green. What an amazing place we live in. Soon we’ll be able to head down to those amazing lakes and have a swim. Maybe finish it up with a BBQ. All this in the Okanagan, folks!

Some engagement photos done at Kal Provincial park by Photographer Draht Photography

It all goes too fast. In a few months, I’ll be piling into my car to drive to Vancouver and get these two lovebird’s wedding! I’ll, of course, make a blog post for that. See you then, Internet!

Also, if you’d like to see the full gallery, head over to my Engagement tab on the left side. There’s a lot of great shots I wasn’t able to include! Do it now!

An Okanagan Engagement Photo Shoot

A Kal Park Engagement

A Kal Park Engagement

A Mix of Models and Another Fantastic Photography Class

What a fun evening for our Level 2 photography students!

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

This photography class is always different. Usually we chat about current events in photography, I mention some of the group’s submitted homework I enjoyed specifically, and we talked about how we did in the shoots this week. It’s sort of like a show and tell, except instead of jelly beans and cats its our cameras and the way we wrestle with light.

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

The week previous, each of the students are told to bring a prop. It can be anything from a monkey costume (and it was, in the past!) to some sparklers, to a pipe. By the time our students reach level two, they’ve usually got some pretty kooky ideas cooking up in their heads. I, for one, will encourage it.

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

This shot was taken in the clear area right beside the studio. There’s another shop in there, but no is moved in. So we decided we’d take advantage of our situation and fill it full of photographers! One of the mother graciously lent us her beautiful daughter (and son!) and she played use a neat cello piece.

Here we were experimenting with the hairlight. You can see how it defines her by creating a white outline around her. Such is the power of a great hairlight! In this case, it was a kicker.

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

Same thing here, same place. One of the students brought an old style pipe, and another brought that funky looking hat. Then we got our hands on a fog machine and things got really neat! I love my students.

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

Here, we had a whisky bottle and a much darker scene. In retrospect, I should have shot it wide open to blur out the background. The scene we were trying to create came through, I believe.

Color version, for science.

I put my cell phone flashlight under the whisky, it lit the whisky up well and created a pretty cool offset light. And just like that we’re balancing three light sources! One of my students noticed it was diffused light and put down some tissue paper. Good job!

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

Model Night at the Vernon Advanced Photography Classes Level 2

A few more for posterity. If you’d like to sign up for the next round (starting May 12) drop me a line! I promise I’m not too busy for you!

A Mix of Models and Another Fantastic Photography Class